Level Eater

Their surroundings started to brighten as the new day began.

As the sun peeked over the horizon, the number of light particles rising from the lake dwindled, making it look more like a regular dawn.

A few hours later, Tatsurou opened his eyes to see Ai stretching her arms in her sleep.

“Wakey wakey!”

Waking Ai up, the two of them prepared for the day and exited the tent to find Cardina waiting for them.

It seemed like it wanted its mana replenished and as a token of gratitude to it for staying true to its duties, Tatsurou spared no effort in refilling it.

After a minute of play with Cardina, they cleaned the camp up, stored their equipment and started to head home.

—Or so they thought. Suddenly detecting an unknown group coming in their direction, Tatsurou made Cardina patrol the path between them.

“Looks like they’re really heading our way, doesn’t it?” asked Ai.

“Yeah. They seem like adventurers, judging from their equipment…” replied Tatsurou. “Oh, maybe they’re the ones escorting Zendo-san today.”

“Oh, right! It’s about time for gramps to come to the lake, huh?”

“It’s still just a possibility. We shouldn’t let our guard down.”

“Got it!”

As such, they waited for the other party to reach them.

After a few moments, they finally made eye contact. The other party was a group of five males and three females, all seemingly adventurers in their getups.

“What are you two doing here?” The tallest man asked. “It’s dangerous ‘round here with the monsters going crazy and all.”

The man looked to be in his early thirties. He had dark brown hair, ears which pointed upwards and a refined look on his face.

“We came here to see the lake on a new moon,” Tatsurou replied.

“New moon… So it’s that, huh?” the man muttered. “You don’t seem like from around here but it looks like you know a little too much about the lake, don’t you think so?”

“Zendo-san told us!” Perceiving it as curiosity, Ai responded without delay.

Hearing that, the man fell into thought for a second before saying, “Zendo-san… so it’s you guys?! The ones who annihilated that army of bedslimes?”[1]

“Oh… so that’s them?” While the man was still in shock, his companions began to chatter as well.

Feeling uncomfortable from all the fuss, Tatsurou tried to end the interaction here. “So… We were just on our way home so we’ll appreciate it if you let us pass now.”

“Oh… sorry. But do you think you can wait?” The tall man intercepted them.

“Wait? Do you have some kind of business with us?” Not feeling any ill intent from him, Ai asked in her usual tone.

Hearing that, the man shook his head but still spoke, “You guys heard about it from Rella-san didn’t you? The monster subjugation request that’s gonna start in four days.”

“Yes. But as we were still having second thoughts, we refrained from giving an immediate answer,” said Tatsurou.

“Safety first, as they say,” said Ai.

“True that. As an adventurer, it is only right to think so,” the man replied. “But in town, the only parties willing to take that request are ours and one other. And even if we were to include those who haven’t decided yet, it’s just the three of us.”

Though Tatsurou was surprised at the current situation, he understood what he was getting at.

Basically, he wanted them to join the subjugation request.

Sensing that Tatsurou knew what his aim was, the man hung an awkward look on his face.

“It seems like you already know what I’m trying to say but let me put it into words. I’m personally asking you to join the subjugation.”

“Uhh, before we decide, I’d like to ask something from you first. Have you been in this trade for a long time now?”

“Huh? Oh… Yeah, that’s right. I might not be the best out there, but I pride myself as a mid-rank adventurer.”

“Then, you definitely realise how much risk this assignment has, right?”

Hearing that, the man rubbed his chin as he fell into thought. Shortly after, he gave an answer based on his team’s assessment. 

“You’re right. As it stands, if we also consider the fact that we may encounter monsters from the deeper parts of Amunelli, it might be better to think of it as having the same risk level as a level 7 dungeon.”

As though it was common sense for adventurers, the man compared the danger level to that of a dungeon.

Unfortunately, the pair which he was talking to had no prior knowledge about it at all.

“Okay… but how dangerous are level 7 dungeons?” Ai asked curiously.

Hearing her question, the man realised that they did not know a single thing and started to explain himself.

“Uhh… Let’s just say that if mid-grade adventurers didn’t prepare enough, they’d get done in in no time.”

“So basically, even people like you, mister, who are already long-fought veterans, still have a chance of dying?”

“That is… correct. It’s better if you think that way.”

“I see…” Ai muttered.

This time, it was their turn to process the information.

To them, this request was of little to no importance.

Instead of taking the risk, it would be better for them to steadily earn SP so they could go back home.

However, they also wanted the people of Obsul, no… Zendo, who took care of them at some point, to be able to do his job without having to worry about monsters.

As Tatsurou weighed their options, a telepathic message suddenly came from Ai.

{Let’s do it.}

{Even though it might be dangerous?}

{We have our special abilities so, as long as nothing bad happens, we should be able to finish it right?}

{We might have to fight against monsters we haven’t seen yet— or even worse, that golden shell again…}

As their conversation veered in this direction, Tatsurou simulated what would happen if they encountered those bears again in their current state.

(If it’s now, we could retreat into the sky if we need to and I have more magic to use as well…  Plus, once we get the weapons from the smithy, we’ll have a lot more combat power… And there’s the scouting support from Cardina too…)

After contemplating for a few moments, Tatsurou came to a decision.  

“We’ll be taking the request too then. Is that okay, Ai?”

“Yeah.”

“REALLY?! That’d be a great help!” the man exclaimed.

“Yes. We’ll be meeting Rella-san later so we’ll tell her then.”

As the man was greatly troubled by the lack of manpower, his face visibly brightened when he heard that the two would be joining.  

“Then, I’ll see you at— no, wait, I haven’t introduced myself yet, have I? The name’s Carné Bulkinton. And these are—”[2]

Carné then passed the baton over to the rest of his team who introduced themselves in turn. Once the other party was done, they gave their name in return as well.

“Then, we’ll be on our way,” said Tatsurou.

“Goodbye!” Ai shouted as they slowly walked away.

“See you next time!” Carné said in return.

Bidding each other farewell, the pair left the area with Cardina in tow.

“Those two are the talk between saltmakers recently, right?” The blue-haired woman in glamorous clothing, Hannah, asked Carné.

“Looks like it.”

Charlie, the muscular middle-aged blonde, joined the conversation as well. “Do you think they’ll be alright? They’re still young kids, from what I’ve heard.”

“They will be. Besides, I’m curious about that bird they had with them. Haven’t heard about it from anyone,” Ahab, a brown-haired man with a short, medium build replied.

“Me too! Hey, do you think that bird’s a monster of some kind?” said Aive, a woman with slender features.

“Huh? Isn’t it just a normal bird?” Greta, a short woman with a small build as well as the youngest in the party, asked in shock.

“Yeah, and the boy… he could use his magic, that’s for sure. He started staring at me as soon as I tried to use Information magic,” said Abi, a skinny boy and the youngest male in the party.

“YOU WHAT?! What if they hate us now because of that?!” Hearing those words, Carné gave him a good-tasting knuckle sandwich.

“Ack!!”

“It’s fine if you use it on monsters, but to think that you’d use Information magic on humans and someone who’s obviously a magician at that…” Matthew, a short, plump man, gave a sigh. “Abi-kun, you need to know that what you just did was the biggest disrespect you could ever do.”

“He’s a kid so I was just checking if he knows what he’s doing!”

“Think about what you’ve done!” Hearing him spout excuses one after another, Carné gave him a second knuckle sandwich.

“Ow!”

Meanwhile, the rest of the party stared at him with slight disdain.

“I’ll have to apologize the next time we meet… Haah, why did you have to do that?” Carné muttered.

“But if what Abi said was true, then he got to be a really skilled magician. This guy is great at pinpointing and breaking through an enemy’s weakness, strangely enough,” Hannah said.

Everyone apart from the one mentioned nodded.

While they were glad to have someone reliable on board, they still felt a mixture of admiration and anxiety of someone they couldn’t fully assess.

“Right, that girl, Ai was it? She was using both a spear and a sword right? That means she has the skills of a martial artist. How do you think they got that bird then? If I’m not mistaken, taming monsters should only be possible at [Tamer Lv 6] and higher right? It’s not a skill from either Magic or Martial Arts so how in the world did they tame it?” said Greta.

“Your guess is as good as mine. How about you try asking them next time,?” Carné told her.

“I shouldn’t…”

“That’s true. You can’t just ask adventurers their secrets,” Aive rebuked him.

“I know. I was joking.”

With the mention of her name, the image of Ai came to his mind. 

(They’re all saying that Tatsurou’s great and all, but that kid is on a different level too…)

It might be due to his job, but Carné always had this bad habit of looking for the gaps in people’s defences.

However, even with all his past experiences and knowledge, he wasn’t able to find any gaps in her stance, giving him the impression that he would lose the moment they crossed blades.

(I guess, I’m still not…)

“Alright, you nuggets! We still got a lot of time before we head home! Training starts now!!”

“WHAAAAT?!” the whole party lamented in sync.

And right by the lakeside, a man full of spirit— and seven others full of complaints– started their training session.

At the same time, in a place well-hidden from observers, Tatsurou’s party took flight and headed straight back to Obsul.

“I thought adventurers would be more of a ‘wild west’ kind of people. I didn’t expect them to be that nice,” exclaimed Ai.

“Oh, really…”

“Why do you sound like you have something else to say?”

Tatsurou would have immediately agreed if they were just talking about Carné, but if he included the rest of the party, especially the young man named Abi who, for some reason, used magic against them with no warning, then he disagreed.

He was able to notice it as Cardina was still keeping watch but if it had just been him alone, he would not have been able to detect it.

Upon hearing that, Ai burst in anger.

“HE DID WHAT?! I can’t believe him!”

“I know. Even if it wasn’t some kind of offensive magic, it was still tactless. I’d say we can only trust other adventurers at most 60% of the time.”

“Yeah, but I won’t ever trust that Abby guy! Even though I don’t remember who he is!”

“You should at least do…”

Apart from Tatsurou, Ai wasn’t really interested in knowing other guys.

As such, she’ll usually forget their faces after a few hours. That’s why, apart from Carné and the women, she could only remember the vague silhouettes of the other party members.

While he was a little worried for her future, Tatsurou brushed it off as one of the quirks of his adorable and sometimes-airhead girlfriend.

Tatsurou held her tight in his arms in an attempt to pacify her raging anger as they made their way through the skies.

TL Notes:

[1] Might change to Vedslime or another name if it turns out they aren’t related to beds in any way.

[2] カルネイ・バルキントン

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